When one considers the wealth of inexpensive Android tablets available, the idea of paying $750 for a 12-inch Android tablet seems inconceivable. But if now isn’t the time for consumers to start thinking of large Android tablets as legitimate Windows laptop replacements, that day isn’t far off.

This is not a competitor to smaller tablets like the Nexus 7. Indeed, if last year’s Galaxy Note 3 smartphone doubles as a reporter’s notebook, then the new Galaxy Note Pro is something akin to an electronic legal pad. And with a surprisingly complete selection of productivity apps in both Google Play and Samsung’s own app store, this massive Android tablet can help you get real work done.

The GALAXY Note Pro lacks an integrated keyboard, and the cover, which does double duty as a stand, is a little flimsy.

The Note Pro is available for either $750 for a 32GB model, or $850 for 64GB of onboard storage. So far, Samsung has yet to announce the price for a model with an integrated LTE WLAN chip. According to Samsung, the Wi-Fi version of the Note Pro houses a 1.9GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A15 chip, powering Android 4.4 (KitKat). Our performance tests produced a Sunspider score of 0.97 seconds (which hits the upper echelons of the tablet market), and a PeaceKeeper score of 815. For the sake of comparison, the iPad 3 managed 516 in PeaceKeeper, and the Dell XPS 10 hit 324 (higher scores are better).

The Samsung ‘Surface’

It’s not much of a stretch to consider the Note Pro as Samsung’s response to Microsoft’s Surface 2 Pro, which starts at $899 for 64GB of onboard storage. Both the Note Pro and the Surface Pro 2 ship with foldable keyboard covers; the Note Pro’s can be configured so that it wakes up and unlocks the tablet when flipped back. But while the Note Pro’s cover actually doubles as a stand, it’s not immediately obvious that it does so.

The Note Pro also lacks an integrated keyboard, such as the Surface’s Type and Touch Covers. In fact, to use it as a laptop replacement, you’ll need to buy a Bluetooth keyboard and possibly a mouse. That completely eliminates its use as a “lap top” computer.

Physically, the Note Pro looks like a Note 3, flipped on its edge. The tablet is designed to be held in landscape mode, with the physical home button mounted between the back and applications buttons. Near the top sits the 2-megapixel front-facing camera, with an 8-megapixel camera at the back. (Unfortunately, the cover lacks a rear camera cutout, so when thumbing the camera button, you’ll have to awkwardly hold up the cover.) Volume and power switches sit on the top, while an all-important microSD card slot sits on the side.

An underrated productivity tool

Like the Note 3, the Note Pro uses the new USB 3.0 connector, collecting juice through a high-output charging plug. Charging the Note Pro takes about three to four hours, but battery life is excellent: You’ll see two, possibly even three days or so of casual use from its integrated 9,500 mAh battery, and our looping video test ran down the battery in 8 hours, 37 minutes. That’s on par with the Dell XPS 10 tablet.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the Note Pro on long flights. The tablet, its stand and a Bluetooth keyboard will take up too much room on a seat-back tray. But you can still use the tablet for mid-flight video playback in your hands. The 12.2-inch display boasts a 2560x1600 resolution and 247 ppi pixel density, and you can even hook up an external monitor care of an optional external HDMI dongle for $39.99.

One of the problems with Samsung’s latest devices, beginning with the Galaxy S4 smartphone, is their overwhelming number of largely extraneous features, such as the “smart pause” feature that supposedly pauses video playback when you look away. You’ll see a number of these still hidden deep within the Note Pro’s settings menus—but thankfully turned off.

Mark Hachman

Feel free to mix and match entertainment and work apps—the Note Pro can handle both.

The default home screen contains a giant reminder widget for S Note, so that you don’t forget the S Pen. Equally useless New York Times and Twitter widgets can be tossed out. And, fortunately, a collection of news and entertainment apps, such as WatchON and a version of Samsung’s Flipboard-like My Magazine app, are confined on the peripheral screens.

Mark Hachman

You can use the pen to draw your own windows, as I did, using the S Pen.

As with the Note phones, pulling out the S Pen triggers several options, including an Action Memo; the ability to save content into a Scrapbook; and my favorite, the Pen Window. The Pen Window lets you run a second app inside a window, providing Android with a desktop-like multitasking environment. You simply draw a box, and when it’s done, select the app you want to fill the space.

Samsung, however, now has a better option: Multi Window mode, which Samsung has made available on only the largest Galaxy Tab and Note tablets. To trigger Multi Window mode, you swipe in from the right-hand side, via a list of supported apps. (YouTube is supported, for example, but Angry Birds is not. And, inexplicably, Chrome is not supported by Pen Window mode, but it is under the Multi Window view.) Dragging one app to the main screen fills it. Dragging a second “snaps” the screen into two halves—and so on, up to a total of four screens. On a smaller tablet, this is a gimmick, but on a larger tablet like the Note Pro, it’s surprisingly useful.

Mark Hachman Mark Hachman

Multi Window can show four apps at once, or you can snap two. This is amazingly useful.

A viable office suite

More impressive are the numerous productivity apps that are either available via the Note Pro itself or via Samsung’s own app store. Apps such as Cisco’s WebEx, a Samsung Remote PC app (an alternative to Microsoft’s own Android app, Microsoft Remote Desktop), and the Hancom Viewer are all included. On Google Play, Hancom’s Hanword, a word processor, cost over $17 at press time, but on the Note Pro, it’s free, as are similar apps to view and edit PowerPoint and Excel documents.

The Hancom apps ship in both “viewer” and editable versions, and the Note Pro tends to open files in the “viewer” version first without an option to choose the editing app, which is annoying. Google’s own Quickoffice is also installed. Aside from some possible font compatibility issues, the Hancom apps seemed to work surprisingly well.

Keep in mind one thing: With the Note Pro, these productivity apps are free. If you purchase a Surface Pro 2, you’ll also need to pay for a subscription to Office 365 or a standalone copy of Office 2013. That pushes the long-term cost up.

Hancom’s app suite makes the Note Pro a viable productivity tablet.

Samsung inexplicably omitted the VPN app that it included on the Note 3, meaning that you’ll need to search out an Android version, such as Cisco’s Easy Connect, on the Play Store. In all, though, I found Android versions of virtually every productivity app I wanted from either the Samsung or Google Play, giving me a PC-like experience on an Android tablet.

This is the bottom line. Windows PCs and Macs represent the power-user extremes of the computing experience, owning everything from Adobe Photoshop to the latest first-person shooters. But tablets are for centrist users: Android tablets and iPads dominate casual gaming, and more and more light-productivity apps are being written for those platforms.

The sum of its parts—a large screen, excellent fantastic battery life, multi-app windows, and equivalent PC software—not only make the Note Pro a viable choice for a tablet enthusiast, but a jumping-off point for an adventuresome road warrior to leave the Windows world entirely. If only Samsung could knock another $150 or so off the price.

Galaxy Note Edge Review: The Ultimate Samsung Smartphone

Galaxy Note Edge Review: The Ultimate Samsung SmartphoneSamsung's Galaxy Note Edge slaps a sleek curved display atop an already-dense set of capabilities to create the world's most feature-packed smartphone. Find out if that's enough to overcome its steep price tag in Pocketnow's Galaxy Note Edge review, then check out our full review of its sister smartphone, the Galaxy Note 4: http://pocketnow.com/2014/10/17/samsung-galaxy-note-4-review
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The New iPad (3) Review

The New iPad (3) ReviewPhoneArena presents a video review of the new Apple iPad - the tablet that has come to set a new benchmark for tablets. So, what does the new device offer to make it a fearsome competitor in the tablet space? Well, first of all it has a brilliant Retina Display that's currently unmatched! Add a new, faster processor, LTE connectivity and an all-new 5MP camera, and it looks like the competition will have some very tough time counteracting this beast.
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Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review

Microsoft Surface Pro 2 ReviewLisa Gade reviews the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, Microsoft's second generation Windows 8.1 tablet-convertible laptop. The Pro 2 has a 10.6" IPS full HD touch screen and an active digitizer with Wacom pen. It runs on the Intel Haswell 4th generation Core i5-4200U CPU with Intel HD 4400 graphics, and it's available with 4 or 8 gigs of DDR3 RAM. The base model has a 64 gig SSD for $899, and you can get it with 128, 256 and 512 gig SSDs. Though small, the Surface Pro 2 has the power of an Ultrabook and it runs full Windows with support for traditional exe apps. Other features include much improved battery life, dual band WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 and dual 720p webcams.
Read our full written review here: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/Microsoft-Surface-Pro-2.htm
*Also check out our in-depth review of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfpl5V7DMl4PT23M24S

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Microsoft Surface Pro reviewDavid Pierce takes a look at the Surface Pro, Microsoft's new Windows 8 tablet computer.
Read the full review at The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/5/3955130/microsoft-surface-pro-review More from The Verge:
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Google Nexus 7 Review

Google Nexus 7 ReviewGoogle Nexus 7 Review - A Solid Tablet at Any Price
The TechnoBuffalo team was fortunate enough to get our hands on the Google Nexus 7 from Google I/O 2012. I used it all weekend and, quite frankly, it's a wonderful device. You're in luck if you're in the market for an inexpensive tablet; this product is feature rich, low-priced and Google is well positioned to sell lots of units. Check out our review and to see why we highly recommend the Nexus 7...
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Microsoft Surface 2 Review Best Tablet Ever!

Microsoft Surface 2 Review Best Tablet Ever!Video Audio did not render at 11:10, apologies. This part was just playing Hydro Thunder with a controller and switching to twitch instantly. Smooth as butter. Audio comes back at 18:32
This is why I love my Surface 2.
Remember this is MY opinion.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-2
Link to the wallpaper that I am using.
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Link to some awesome wallpapers. 354 in 1080P.
http://imgur.com/a/6EPQGPT25M19S

Microsoft Surface Phone Concept - 3D Model Render

Microsoft Surface Phone Concept - 3D Model RenderMicrosoft Surface Windows Phone 8 3D Render. Word that Microsoft is working on an own-brand Windows Phone handset keeps resurfacing, with the latest reports saying that it's currently in testing. Here is our 3D render concept of what a Microsoft Surface Phone could look like.
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Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 Review

Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 ReviewLisa Gade reviews the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 Android tablet with a quad core CPU and a 12.2", 2560 x 1600 Super Clear LCD. The Note works with the included S Pen and touch, and it has one of the largest displays found on a pure tablet design. It weighs 1.65 lbs. and is very thin at 0.32", so it's not a burden to hold. The WiFi model we review runs on the Exynos 5 Octa 5420 CPU with MALI T628 graphics. The LTE version will run on the Snapdragon 800 with Adreno 330 graphics. Features include Samsung's multi-window multitasking, their new Magazine UX home screen UI, dual band WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS with GLONASS, 2MP front camera, 8MP rear camera and a IR blaster for AV home theatre remote control. The tablet has USB host and a microSDXC card slot. Pricing is $749US for the 32 gig model and $849 for the 64 gig model. Read our full written review here: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tablets/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-Pro-12-2.htmPT32M54S

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